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GEN Y: IT’S TIME TO STEP UP

Last week, our CEO, Kevin C. Carlson, sent out a call to action for executives leading Gen Y employees. It was simple – let go.

By letting go, executives open up countless opportunities for you, as a Gen Y employee, to step up. But what does that really entail?

In his post, Kevin addressed five ways executives can let go, and this week, I’d like to address how you can step up in each of those situations.

Create a strong sense of community.

Make the effort to go to happy hour, or join the bowling league or sing “Happy Birthday.” You’ll improve your relationships with your colleagues and you might even have a good time.

Enable Gen Y employees to contribute.

Contribute! This is a no-brainer. Do a great job, and reinforce why you’ve earned the extra responsibility.

Enable flexibility in work hours and setting

Use flexibility responsibly. Understand and accept that no matter what your role, there will be times when you need to be at the office. Sometimes it will mean coming in early or staying late. On the other hand, when you are able to work from home, use your time wisely and keep yourself on track.

Accept and value the ideas and initiatives brought to you by Gen Y employees.

Bring good ideas to leadership. Step up by bringing not only ideas to the table, but also some solid reasoning behind them. Even better, bring some strong statistics or qualitative evidence to back up your ideas. Anticipate questions your leaders are going to ask and know how to answer them.

Answer honestly and respectfully. You’ll get honesty and respect in return.

Kevin encouraged executives to let go of the perception that “how it’s always been” is how it should be. In reality, they can’t do it alone. They need Gen Y to step up and into a new role, taking on new challenges and becoming the next generation of leaders.